{"id":16365,"date":"2021-06-24T22:00:38","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T05:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_31_45-55-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-06-20T00:11:49","modified_gmt":"2021-06-20T07:11:49","slug":"genesis_32_1-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_32_1-12\/","title":{"rendered":"The Comfort of God\u2019s Presence and God\u2019s Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

Genesis 32:1-12 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 32:1-12.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 32:1-12 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-2:\u00a0\u00a0As Jacob continues his journey back to his homeland, he is met by angels, although we are given no details of what those angels looked like or what the angels did or said.\u00a0\u00a0He calls the place \u201cMahanaim\u201d, which means two camps, which is perhaps a reference to the fact that Jacob\u2019s camp was now met by what Jacob described as \u201cthe camp of God\u201d.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

First,\u00a0when you move forward in faith trusting in the Lord, you\u2019ll find that you move as two camps<\/strong>. There\u2019s the visible camp consisting of you and the people you are with, but there\u2019s also the invisible camp consisting of the Holy Spirit and God\u2019s angels whom God sends to be with you.\u00a0\u00a0Blessed are those who recognize that wherever they go there are two camps (2 Kings 6:16-17).<\/p>\n

Second, you might say, \u201cI wish God would speak to me the way He did to Jacob and send angels to show me which way to go.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Keep this in mind: Jacob saw the angels\u00a0after\u00a0<\/em>he had already made the decision to go forward in faith.\u00a0\u00a0Many people wait for God to give them a sign\u00a0before\u00a0<\/em>they do anything.\u00a0\u00a0The lack of a sign then becomes their excuse for not moving forward.\u00a0\u00a0That is lazy, Hollywood spirituality.\u00a0\u00a0If you always need God to show you a sign before you go forward in faith, you won\u2019t grow at all.\u00a0\u00a0You\u2019ll remain a baby believer.\u00a0\u00a0For signs often\u00a0follow<\/em>\u00a0those who go in faith, rather than preceding them.\u00a0\u00a0In other words,\u00a0rather than always waiting for a sign before you go forward in faith, go forward in faith and believe that the signs will follow you<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

3\u00a0<\/em><\/sup>\u00a0Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my master Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, menservants and maidservants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.'”
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.”
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O\u00a0LORD, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.'”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 3-12:\u00a0\u00a0Jacob sends messengers to go ahead of him into the land of Seir where Esau apparently resides and to make contact with Esau.\u00a0\u00a0When Jacob learns the Esau is coming to meet him and 400 hundred men are with him, Jacob is afraid and distressed.\u00a0\u00a0He divides the people into two groups so that at least one group can escape in the event of an attack.\u00a0\u00a0He prays for God\u2019s help and protection.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He also recounts the promise God had spoken to him previously that God would make him prosper and make his descendants like the sand of the sea, uncountable.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When you are stressed and afraid, be alert and resourceful, but even more, hang onto God\u2019s promises.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0The fact that Jacob could recall God\u2019s promise in a stressful time shows that Jacob had stored God\u2019s promise in his heart.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise, one of the best ways you can fight fear and stress is to store God\u2019s promises in your heart.\u00a0\u00a0That includes both the\u00a0rhema\u00a0<\/em>word that God speaks directly into your heart, as well as God\u2019s promises in Scripture.\u00a0\u00a0In Thrive Discipleship School Level 2, we talk about the importance of memorizing Scripture and give you a list of worthwhile verses to memorize.\u00a0\u00a0Store up God\u2019s Word in your heart so that you can use it as your weapon against fear, stress and temptation in the future.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Holy Spirit, thank You for showing me today the comfort that comes from Your presence and from Your Word.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that wherever I go, You go with me and together we go as two camps, the visible and the invisible.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You also for the Word of God spoken to my heart and written out for me in Scripture so that I have a weapon against fear.\u00a0\u00a0May every person reading this GAME sharing make storing God\u2019s Word in their heart their priority.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 32:1-12.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 32:1-12 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-2:\u00a0\u00a0As Jacob continues his journey back to his homeland, he is met by angels, although we are given no details of what those angels looked like or what the angels did or said.\u00a0\u00a0He calls the place \u201cMahanaim\u201d, which means two camps, which is perhaps a reference to the fact that Jacob\u2019s camp was now met by what Jacob described as \u201cthe camp of God\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0<\/p>\n

First,\u00a0when you move forward in faith trusting in the Lord, you\u2019ll find that you move as two camps. There\u2019s the visible camp consisting of you and the people you are with, but there\u2019s also the invisible camp consisting of the Holy Spirit and God\u2019s angels whom God sends to be with you.\u00a0\u00a0Blessed are those who recognize that wherever they go there are two camps (2 Kings 6:16-17).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16365"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16366,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16365\/revisions\/16366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}